Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Book Recommendations Please!

I'm looking over my stack of ARCs and I'm seeing a few types of books not well-represented. I'd really appreciate it if you all could recommend some of the following types of books-

-Sweet (no nookie) or Mildly Sensual (nookie is assumed to be happening, but not described) Romances, any sub-genre is fine.-novels by Asian or Hispanic authors or with Asian or Hispanic characters in the leading or strong secondary roles, any genre except Erotica or Horror.-novels by African American authors or with African American characters in the leading or strong secondary roles, any genre or sub-genre except Contemporary Romance (any other Romance sub-genre is fine), Erotica, or Horror..Please recommend in the comment section or email me. Thank you!.3/12 Edited-To-Add: Here's two more types of stories I'd love to have recommendations for-.- Romance with enduring love stories in them. Boy-Meets-Girl Romance is fine, but gets really boring after a steady diet of them because I've been married a long time and I know there's a lot more to it than that..- Kick-Butt Heroines Who Are Also MOMMMIES! Don't tell me there is no such bird because I live in Alaska and our governor is pregnant with her fifth child and I've read almost all of Susan Grant's novels too. I'm only missing THE STAR PRINCESS. So there.;)

I live in a multi-cultural society, so it only makes sense to have multi-cultural books. Doesn't it? Or am I the only one who thinks reading books with all white characters is rather bizarre? I'm white-as-a-bleached-sheet, by the way.

Oh, loving that title.You Had Me At Halo.That gave me my chuckle of the day.

And I got another with Ms. White's choice of heroes/heroines.

I don't talk about the ethnicity of my characters in my novels 'cause I don't consider it important. Obviously if the person is blonde or redheaded, odds are he/she is white but other than that...

My second book, Invisible (out in Feb 2009, knock on wood) has a secondary character named Tavos. He has dark hair, dark eyes and lives in Belize. Ya think he's white? Not in my mind but when some of my test readers read the novel, they thought he was.

(Shrugs)

It is like producing a coloring book. The readers can add any skin color they want, I simply give an outline.

I don't think 98% of white people meant to, but I think most of us have a 'Sub-conscious Segregation' in our heads. My thought is if we keep putting out multi-cultural stories by diverse authors, presenting them without remark, side by side with white authors' novels, it will help change this slowly-but-surely.

I recently noticed that a publisher put out a novel with African American characters, but by a white author, in with all the other novels by white authors. Wonderful! I'm white-as-a-bleached-sheet and the heroine of MANIC KNIGHT is biracial (mother is black, father is white.) However, what saddened me was to realize that all the other novels with black characters were segregated to the African American section because they were written by black authors. Heavy sigh. I assume selling books new is the most important thing to a publisher? Am I right? So, why are they segregating African American authors into a section which almost all white readers will ignore as a group because of Subconscious Segregation? If those authors were mixed in with everyone else, their books would sell to white customers as well as black. It doesn't make sense. The last time I looked, there are still a lot more white people (and therefore book-buyers) in the United States than black people. Like I said, I can't count to ten when I have my mittens on, but this still just does not add up.

Still, the fact that a novel with a black person on the cover is being sold right in there with all the books with white people on the covers is a positive step, regardless of the author's skin color.

I don't tend to talk about ethnicity either. I describe the way my characters look, and kind of assume that by the names (Marc Cruz, Sonora Vasquez) readers will get it. Of course, sometimes they discuss their families and stuff while getting to know each other. Even then I tend to make culture a subtle part of character development, not anything I need to hit the reader over the head with.

And if my hero is white and my heroine is not, or vice-versa, this is never an issue, or a plot manipulation to keep them apart.

I'm white, my husband is not, and I don't even think about it. I don't consider us an interracial couple. We are just a couple.

I think I read somewhere that 10% of the U.S. population is African American. That was a few years ago so that might have changed.

Well, I figure the bookstore owners want to sell the most books they can (of all the colors, business folks are most partial to green). So if the books are in their own special section, that must be because they sell better there. More sales leads to more books leads to more authors writing these books leads to more sales.

Kimber Chin, don't you want to find *new* customers as a business woman? Doesn't that increase profits? If a product isn't in a place a *new* customer will see it, she's not going to buy it. That's the bottom line.

By the way, Blog Buds, I've heard back from a lot of the authors and I've got some great books on the way. Thanks a whole bunch!

Why did it make me chuckle, Jill? Because I have a strange sense of humor. It is like a bald guy being called Harry. Some things just set me off.

Being in a inter-racial relationship also, I have to think about it. Why? Because I meet new people every day and it comes up. Heck, just my name brings it up.

And having only been together 15 years, we're still dealing with cultural differences. For example, as first son of first son of first son, my hubby is responsible for his family, no matter how successful or old his siblings are. And as his parents age, that requires some adjustment in thinking on my part.

I agree, Kimber An, that if they could display the books in both areas, that would be optimal for the author.

I don't know if it would be optimal for the bookstore (as it would decrease over all selection).

One of my buds worked in new product development in a major book chain. They tested group romance in with women's lit and also in with general fiction. Yikes, the sales of romance dropped like a stone. Readers got frustrated and left.

She didn't personally test the multi-cultural shelving so I can't really comment on that.

I talked about the challenges of a multi-cutural relationship but not the benefits.

Coming from two very different cultures forced the hubby and I to talk about things from day one. There was no assuming that how he dealt with situations would be exactly how I would deal. Having that automatic check decreases misunderstandings.

I think every lasting relationship has this (because no one's background is the same) but we got to that point quicker than most of our friends.

Thanks for your response, Kimber Chin. I mistakenly thought your comment was from Kimber An. I've seen you both out blogging, so I know you're two different entities. Guess I have to keep my eyes peeled.

I get that your chuckle was because the author's last name is White and she writes about non-white characters. I think I felt as though you were trivializing the subject matter, but now I see that is not the case.

Sense of humor, about books? I find it more and more difficult as my first release date approaches. Apologies! I will work on this.

As far as my relationship with my husband, we come from very similar backgrounds, so perhaps that is why we haven't struggled with the issue. We were both raised Catholic, which is a huge part of his culture, both of our families have been welcoming/accepting, and we live in San Diego, which is very much a melting pot.